Vona denies Jobbik receives Russian support

Budapest, March 11 (MTI) – Gábor Vona, leader of the radical nationalist Jobbik party, denied in an interview to daily Magyar Idők published on Friday that his party received any financial support from Russia.

He said there has never been any kind of Russian support for the party and he would not accept any foreign funding at all. Vona said that he would support a “thorough probe” into the foreign funding of all parliamentary parties.

On the subject of Jobbik MEP Béla Kovács, accused of spying against EU institutions, Vona said there is no real evidence against Kovács. He said he wants the issue cleared up, and “if Kovács was a spy, he knows what to do. There is no room in Jobbik for spies”. Jobbik accepted 8 million forints (EUR 26,000) from Kovács before 2010, “which is not a huge sum” and this was registered on the books, he told the paper. Referring to several recent arrests, he insisted “the real spy scandals” were to be found close to the government. He raised the possibility that certain companies that had amassed lots of money under the government of Viktor Orbán through central government and EU funding were headed by people senior in the Prime Minister’s Office, the national development ministry, a national trading house and the national info-communications body. He also questioned whether these businesses posed a national security risk since they “spied for the US, the IMF and Swiss funds”.

Meanwhile, Vona said Jobbik sympathises with some of the economic policy elements shepherded by central bank governor György Matolcsy, but the reality is that while the central bank manages public funds, Fidesz wants to keep the details of spending secret.

Commenting on the recent mayoral elections in Salgótarján, north Hungary, Vona said it showed the failure of Fidesz. Despite the left’s victory in Salgótarján, the left has “fallen apart” and Jobbik is the real opposition force, he insisted.